Hit-and-run suspect would 'kill himself before going back to jail'

His mother repeatedly urged him to turn himself in. But Joshua Zuniga did not. The convicted felon said he would “kill himself before going back to jail.”

Zuniga, 29, is charged in the hit-and-run crash that killed two women last month in downtown Ocala. The Star-Banner on Friday obtained a copy of the arrest affidavit in the case. It spells out previously undisclosed details, including the interaction between the suspect and his mother in the hours and days after the fatal wreck, and the fact that the vehicle was going 86 mph when the victims were struck.

According to that affidavit:

The crash happened late the night of Jan. 13 at East Silver Springs Boulevard and Northeast First Avenue. Ocala police Lt. Charlie Eades, a watch commander, drove just west of the site and found a pickup parked near the boulevard and Pine Avenue. He saw someone running east. Eades stopped at the truck.

Several people who were standing at Silver Springs and Magnolia Avenue flagged down a police officer. The group wanted to inform the officer that the bodies of the victims — Alicha Negroni Aldino, 39, and Jesse Cam Caldero, 28 — were still in the roadway. Other people told police that they saw a speeding vehicle hit the victims and continue on.

Officer William Christman was working a detail downtown. He heard Eades say he had seen someone running near the courthouse. Christman searched the area and eventually saw a man walking along Northwest First Street.

He stopped that man, later identified as Zuniga, at Northwest First Street and North Magnolia Avenue. Zuniga would not look at him. Instead, he turned around and placed his hands behind his back, as if he wanted to be handcuffed and arrested.

Zuniga had an odor of alcohol about him. He appeared distraught and told the officer that he “was calling for help.” Christman said Zuniga got on his knees, then on the ground, and began crying and yelling “please stop sir, please stop.”

The officer backed up. Zuniga got up, now angry. Zuniga yelled that he had lost his phone. Another officer arrived. They handcuffed Zuniga because of his behavior. Zuniga told officers: “I just crashed. I just crashed,” and complained of knee pain.

The officers called for medical help. While Zuniga was being checked by medical officials, officers received word that he was the registered owner of the abandoned pickup.

Zuniga was transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center, where he told officials he had been a passenger in the pickup. He said an “immigrant was driving.”

An officer tried to interview Zuniga. He declined.

The hospital found that Zuniga’s blood-alcohol level was 0.155, nearly twice the state’s legal limit of 0.08. Officers have subpoenaed the hospital for the blood. Zuniga could face additional charges.

Zuniga was not arrested. Investigators were still trying to gather evidence and prove that he had been behind the wheel when the fatal crash happened.

Maria Zuniga would later tell Ocala police Officer Jorge Fernandez that she picked up her son from Ocala Regional early the morning of Jan. 14. She asked him what happened. He told her “he did not mean to, and that it was an accident.”

Zuniga told his mother that “he knew he hit something and that after the impact he saw the bodies on top of his vehicle’s hood.”

When they arrived home, Zuniga again told his mother “he did not mean to and that it was (an) accident.” She tried convincing him to surrender to authorities, but he told her that he was “going to kill himself before going back to jail.” Zuniga has a criminal history, is a convicted felon, and was released from prison in March 2017.

Officers removed the air bag from the pickup and searched the 2014 Nissan Frontier. It was towed and placed in evidence.

Ocala police Officer Charles Hunt, a traffic homicide investigator, reviewed surveillance video from the courthouse and obtained search warrants for the pickup and clothing. A Florida Highway Patrol trooper assisted Hunt with determining the speed of the pickup. Data from the vehicle showed that, seconds before the crash, the truck's speed had steadily increased from 81 mph to 86 mph.

A judge signed a search warrant authorizing police to obtain a DNA swab from Zuniga. On Jan. 24, police went to a home in the 1200 block of Northwest 109th Avenue and found him. Hunt said Zuniga seemed nervous. Hunt got the DNA. The sample and the air bag were sent to DNA Labs International, a private facility in Deerfield Beach, for testing.

Zuniga's DNA matched what was found on the air bag, police say.

Police officials tried to conduct a follow-up interview with Zuniga, but that never happened. On Feb. 15 they interviewed Zuniga’s mother.

She told them what happened at the hospital and later at home. Maria Zuniga also told Fernandez that, in late January or early February, she took her son and his girlfriend, Jessica Hall, to Broward County. She said that, while they were there, she sent them money.

While her son was in Broward, Maria Zuniga again tried to convince him to turn himself in. He told her he was searching for a lawyer and would do nothing without an attorney.

As of Friday afternoon, he still did not have a private attorney representing him.

Hunt concluded that Zuniga was the driver of the pickup and felt he had enough evidence to make an arrest. Zuniga was taken into custody on Wednesday and is being held without bail.